I recently upgraded one of the Haswell computers in the studio with an i7 4970k -- I was surprised and disappointed with the thermal performance of this batch of cpu's -- I am using a 4U Supermicro Heatsink (I use this on all 12 machines I manage at the studio)

I thought these issues could come down to these factors -

-Bad thermal paste application

-Improper heatsink mounting (not enough contact/pressure)

-Motherboard feeding too much voltage to chip

-Bad thermal sensor in the CPU

-BAD IHS in the CPU --

I feel like I can safely determine that thermal grease and heatsink pressure are fine- though when doing stress testing I am surprised how little the heatsink 'gets warm' [which is why at first I assumed the issue was the transfer of heat from the top of the CPU package to the heatsink plate] -

Trying to lower voltages in the MOBO Bios caused the machine not to POST

I am asking whether there are known issues with this chip's internal temp sensor or the application of thermal compound between the die and the 'cap' -

I understand this chip is powerful with incredible power density, therefore it will get hot quick - but I am running into 'thermal runaway' when doing stress testing. Any thoughts on these issues --